Miele Little Giant Stackable Washer and Dryer

With a convention center filled with some of the finest in home furnishings, prefabricated homes and decorative items, you'd think we'd walk away lusting after a pricey sectional, a limited edition lamp or a luxurious kitchen (all things we did note). But it was something practically mundane in nature that had our lottery hopes surging; a compact washer and dryer pair from Miele, the Little Giant.

Built in the 1930's, our apartment wasn't designed with laundry machines in mind, so it has always been our hopes to one day to wash our clothes in the comforts of our own home, instead of lugging huge bales of soiled clothing to and fro from the laundromat. With that in mind, it shouldn't come as a surprise we were drawn to the allure of these beautiful compact machines displayed at the Dwell on Design show floor, their brushed metal exterior only hinting at the plethora of features our favourite German appliance maker had packed within.

Designed specifically for small space dwellers who've got a closet, storage room or any modest sized spare space, the Miele Little Giant washer and dryers was described by Miele representative, Skyler Stevenson, as the "ultimate" washing machine for those "looking and requiring the best". Who are we to argue after we learned these compact machines can blast soiled white fabrics back pristine with nary a drop of bleach, thanks to the washer's ability to produce water temps in excess of 200 degrees. At that temperature with a 526 G's rotatation, oils, dirt and residues are melted away from the surface in and inbetween from the weave of white fabrics.

We were asked to peer inside the machine to admire the Honeycomb Drum design, a detail that reputedly creates a washing environment that protects the longevity and wear of clothing, with less water needed to wash and a faster cycle time. The industrial looks aren't just window dressing; the Little Giant is rated for 25,000 operating hours for 16 years of operation, so we weren't exactly surprised to hear about the $4,000 price tag per washer (the dryer can be had for $3099).

Other features shown by our polished Miele rep (he had his presentation DOWN, with well synchronized movements to his descriptions) were the easy to reach lint filter, 13 pre-installed wash programs (further custom modes can be programmed by user), a residue-combating autoclean system, and a variable water flow sensor which helps the washer use as little water as needed (Energy Star rated).

As one can imagine, this machine isn't really designed for a modest income blogger like ourselves. The Miele marketing material even makes it clear these machines work well in commercial settings like a "bed & breakfast", "hair salon", and....uh..."dairy farm". All we know is if we come into some serious money, or a dairy farm, the Miele Little Giant washing machine and dryer is right there with Lakers season tickets on our short list of lottery spending fever items.